A Hex Called Love
by SpunYarn
Summary: The Shepherds find themselves in a strange emotional state as they come to grips with their children coming back from the future. The icy grasp of jealousy on her heart, Tharja moves forward with her most daring hex. Will her gambit grant her wishes, or cost her everything? (Rated M for language, graphic scenes, and sexual content)
1. Chapter 1 - A Hex Called Jealousy

Author's Note: I'm pretty sure this story would have all of the warnings on it's HBO title card, and isn't meant for people under the age of 18. I challenged myself to write a one-shot lemon and somehow ended up with multiple chapters. I'm going to have to work on the concept of "one shot" if I attempt it again

Update: 2018/07/15 - Found out that the section breaks I was using for scene-changes were getting wiped by the system here. The abrupt scene changes probably made for a rough read there, sorry about that.

* * *

 **A Hex Called Jealousy**

Robin let a long sigh slip past his lips as his eyes idly trailed over the text of a book that he wasn't actually reading. Things had become complicated in camp ever since the big reveal that Lucina was actually Chrom's daughter from the future. Ever since it had come out that she was a part of a band of heroes, many of whom traced their lineage to members of the Shepherds, it had made interpersonal relationships among the party a little more…complicated than usual.

Some people were eager to find partners with the hope that they might see their progeny come back from the future to further bolster their ranks. Some people were concerned that the target of their affections would have a future child who turned out to belong to someone else and were preemptively making things awkward. A few members of their group were still struggling with the concept of children from the future, and what that meant for the concepts of free will and destiny.

All of it had come down to a very strange morale situation that Robin had been trying to deal with ever since. It probably would have been helpful if Lucina had been willing and able to give them more information. It was the sort of thing that even bugged Robin a little bit, though he was finding it much easier to focus on the morale issue than the implications of time-travel on everything that he had ever seen, said, or done.

In the end, Robin now found himself in a situation where 'matchmaker' was set to become one of his titles, and many of the other Shepherds were asking him for permission to pursue relationships, or advice on how they might move a relationship forward. It was becoming a little bit taxing, and while he had asserted that such matters not be brought up at strategy meetings, it was difficult to argue that gathering new fighters from the future wasn't a 'strategic issue'.

It was because of all of these various troubles that Robin had retreated to the relative privacy of his personal tent. While it may not have been as easy to strategize here, idly flipping through the pages of an old tome was helping him to clear his thoughts. He was also enjoying being alone…for however long that might last.

"Robin…are you busy?"

The strategist immediately brought his hand up from the book, his thumb and forefinger squeezing the bridge of his nose. On one hand he could ignore the voice that threatened to intrude on his privacy. On the other, he wasn't actually busy, and should this be something that was relevant to the war that they currently found themselves in, it would be irresponsible not to respond.

After a long moment, Robin relented to the possibility that this could be important and broke the moment of silence, "What seems to be the problem?"

The door to his tent parted open, and a young pegasus knight pushed through the opening. Her ruby hair cascaded down her back, held back from her face by her iconic pegasus wing hair-clip. It was strange to see her in normal clothes as opposed to the usually sparkling arbor that she wore. It was actually refreshing to see that she had taken the messages about how unlikely it was that they'd be attacked in camp to heart. Cordelia tended to be very studious like that, and because of that, was one of the few members of the camp that hadn't been taken by this 'future-fever'.

Robin kept the smile on his face, even as he took note of the way that she was struggling to maintain eye contact, "Was there something that you needed, Cordelia?"

"I was hoping to get some advice…"

The smiling facade that Robin was wearing cracked slightly. This was alright though, there were plenty of things that Cordelia could be asking him about that weren't the topic he was trying to avoid. Maybe she had a question about tactics, or for some reason wanted to run down the classics like the weapon triangle with him. Maybe she wanted to talk about how best to avoid things like bows while she was out on the battlefield.

"…That is to say…romantic advice."

Robin deflated, catching his face with his palm as his head rolled forward. He stayed like that for a moment. He realized now that he should have known better the moment that Cordelia had entered his tent. While the dress made of quilted fabric and leather that she normally wore under her plate was still armour, for someone like Cordelia, dressing like this was 'casual'. He had to admit, that with the shining plate gone, her appearance was more approachable, or at least a little bit less intimidating.

He found himself trying to think of the way that a proper leader would deal with this kind of situation. With all of the strategy books that he had gone over, and everything that he had learned, there had to be some example that he could draw on. Unfortunately nothing was coming to mind, and the only leader he could think of that had ever had this kind of situation to deal with other than himself was Chrom.

His fingers pushed through his hair as he drew his hand back to slick back his bangs. He eyed Cordelia for a moment before finally speaking, "Alright, but if I agree to help you, I'd better not have anyone else coming to my tent for this kind of help, deal?"

Cordelia nodded quickly as her body naturally moved into the proud stance of a knight accepting orders. Even when her mind was focused on romantic issues, it seemed that she was unable to push her training to the side. It was nice to know that even during this trying emotional time, duty was still so deeply ingrained into who she was that she couldn't put it aside.

Robin took another long breath, accepting the nod as the agreement to their deal, "Very well…How can I help?"

oOo0oOo

A pair of dark eyes watched the flap to the tent carefully. With the camp in the heightened emotional state that it was in, people entering other people's personal tents was a thing that people took notice of. It might have meant nothing, but in certain cases, just the perception that it gave off was a dangerous thing. This was definitely one of those cases, and both of the involved parties were smart enough to know that.

Tharja chewed on her bottom lip angrily as she watched the front of Robin's tent with eyes that burned so hot that they could melt steel. There were plenty of times when someone such as Cordelia marching into Robin's tent wouldn't have even registered to her. This time was different. The pegasus knight had clearly been nervous, which alone wouldn't have been a big deal, but she had also chosen not to wear that freshly polished plate armour that Tharja assumed she only removed for the polishing process.

The shadowy sorceress could respect a woman wanting to flaunt her feminine wiles. Given the uniform of a female dark mage, it would be the height of hypocrisy for her to deny anyone the ability to change up their outfit to attract amorous attention. The problem was not the bait that Cordelia was setting by dressing like an innocent farm girl, but the target that she hoped to catch with her honey-sweet trap.

As the moments became minutes, Tharja found herself becoming more and more anxious about what was happening. Robin hadn't immediately cast the red-haired trollop out of his tent, which meant that they were still in there…together. The longer it took the more her mind worked over the problem, trying to determine what could be going on, inventing more scenarios as time continued it's relentless push onwards.

Maybe they were just talking. Robin was good at talking to people. He had a way about him that he could help people arrive at the best solution to most problems. It wouldn't have been a stretch to say that if anyone in the Shepherds had a problem, Robin was the one that they wanted to talk it out with. He always kept a level head, was always fair when a dispute came up, and was generous with his time. Maybe Cordelia was just there to talk out a problem.

Then again, maybe Cordelia had been caught up in the heightened emotions of recent events. It was possible that all of this talk of children from the future had awakened Cordelia to her womanly desires. It was definitely a mindset that seemed to be spreading throughout the camp, and the pegasus knight wouldn't have been the first one to have been spotted somewhere composing a list of possible names for children. A number of the women in camp had been approaching Robin asking permission to pursue a romantic relationship with someone else in camp, and while the strategist had insisted that no one needed his permission to fall in love, Cordelia seemed like the type to ask for it anyway.

But what if she wasn't just asking permission? What if this was the first step in a plan to seduce the grandmaster? What if, even with her constant watching, Tharja had missed something and this wasn't the first step, but actually a daring afternoon rendezvous?

This was the darkest corner that she had come up with, and coincidentally was where Tharja's mind had settled. She stewed in it, while her mind rolled over the idea of Cordelia and Robin together. Her mind conjured images of skin on skin, of sweaty heat, of sounds of passion slipping through gritted teeth and drown out by the sound of tent canvas rippling in the gentle breeze. Her imagination was well versed in exploring such fantasied. Normally she imagined Robin's fingers being tangled in her midnight black tresses. This time her imagination betrayed her with images of hair that was the colour of blood.

Tharja drew her thumb away from her lips. She was not sure when she had started to chew on the fine edge of her black-painted nail, but knew that continuing to do so could cause breakage. She wasn't ready to throw away any cards that might help her get what she wanted, and that included nails that could be sharpened into dagger-sharp talons. If she was going to claw Robin back to her, it might turn out that she needed actual claws, after all.

When Cordelia finally did exit the tent, the faint blush on her cheeks was not something that Tharja found to be comforting. Far from defeating the images in her mind, it just leant further credence to immodesty of her mind's eye. Worse still, now that she had seen how utterly shy and innocent Cordelia was acting, it changed the narrative of the story that her imagination was weaving.

When their coupling had first entered her mind, it was easy for Tharja to paint Cordelia as the aggressor. It was simple to imagine that the pegasus knight would slip into Robin's tent wearing the dress that served as her under-armour, then assaulting Robin with her body. Maybe Robin would have resisted for a while. His sword training made him stronger than the average mage, but against a trained pegasus knight, when she pinned him down to his chair, his noble struggling would probably be in vain. It wouldn't take long after she had mounted his lap, the fair skin of her thighs on either side of his hips. A belt, and the shifting of fabric, and then that would be all it would take.

Those weren't the actions of a shy girl though. A girl who looked flustered before entering the tent, and now wore a light pink blush on her cheeks would never be so direct in her attack. If that was the case…Tharja's mind ran over the alternative story, where Robin had taken a more direct role in things. Perhaps he had even called her there under the pretence that this was some plan to bring back these future children and further bolster their ranks. That seemed like the sort of thing that dutiful soldier like Cordelia would have pretended she was reluctant about, but accepted with the glee of a newlywed.

Tharja's mind conjured images of the pegasus knight struggling to hide her eagerness as she slipped into the tent. She could see it as clearly as if it were happening right in front of her. He would press his lips to hers in a kiss fuelled by his fiery passion. His hands would find her hips and turn her, leading her around his tent. He'd use her to find the edge of the desk, and while one hand took a firm grip of the desk to keep them there, the other would start its work, hiking up the hem of her skirt. His lips would move to the nape of her neck, to lower her defences, and then suddenly she'd suddenly find her back pressed to the smooth surface of the top of his desk.

The dark sorceress desperately wanted to stop the story playing out in her head there. The battle against her imagination proved to be one in which Tharja could find no victory. She was a prisoner to her mind. The nightmare that was so close to so many of her fantasies was not something that she could escape. It played on in her mind's eye, much too real to just be her imagination.

Hands slipped under fabric. Fingers teased over skin. A pair of lacy underclothes were dragged down over milky thighs, further down a pair of well-toned legs, over knees, and past ankles before being discarded to the side. Leather straps were drawn past freshly loosened buckles. Cotton rubbed against skin, and crumpled to the ground, left like a forgotten shadow.

Tharja was sure that she could feel the heat from the bodies in front of her. Perhaps this had just started as he mind taking a journey down dark pathways, but now, it was as if her mind had given flesh to a dream. If it hadn't been so clear, maybe she could have ignored it, wiped it away like a cloud of smoke. The more it played out, the more she knew that it was real, the more she knew that this was what had happened in the tent.

Robin's hands moved up to take a firm hold of the far edge of his desk as he rocked his hips forward. His length pierced the lance-wielder he had pinned to his desk, and a sharp noise escaped her throat before she could bite he bottom lip to keep from crying out. Cordelia had her arms wrapped tightly around Robin's torso, pressing her chest into his, and allowing her to bury her face into the crook of his neck. Their motions stopped there long enough to sear the moment into Tharja's mind, and then the movement began again.

It was slow at first. The kind of movement you would expect between two lovers. A gentle push and pull as skin rubbed against skin. Soft noises, that were further muffled by Robin's shoulder, slipped past Cordelia's lips every time his hips moved forward to push his length deeper inside of her. Her fingers linked together behind his back, her grip quickly becoming so tight that her knuckles turned white.

The slow movements quickly gave way to faster, more desperate pushes towards the ultimate goal. His hips began to rock forward with a speed and force that caused Cordelia's body to shake slightly as her grip tightened on him with each thrust. The desk that they were over began to let out soft noises to protest the activities taking place on it, keeping time to their thrusts with the gentle groans of wood. Robin seemed to be using his grip on the edge of the desk to try and pull himself deeper into the pegasus knight with every forward thrust. For her part, Cordelia had arched her back attempting to maneuver herself in a way that Robin's thrusts could reach her very core.

Cordelia's knees rose, her slim legs, better for riding a pegasus than for running, curled up and around hips of the strategist above her. Her ankles hooked together behind Robin, her leather boots pressing tightly to his behind through the material of his coat. While Robin was using leverage from his desk to thrust his length as deep into her as possible, Cordelia was doing her part, by pulling him tighter with her legs on every deep and penetrating thrust.

The sound of flesh slapping against flesh filled the tent, but somehow failed to escape it. Cordelia bit down on Robin's shoulder, as the cries of passion that she was in danger of letting out were something that was much more likely to pierce the material of the tent. Robin grunted through grit teeth, possibly from the bite to the shoulder, possibly from the feeling of Cordelia's folds tightening around his length.

Ragged breathing, soft grunts, muffled moans, and the wet noises of a hard cock thrusting in and out of a well-lubricated pussy all filled the tent and assaulted Tharja's ears. The smell of Robin's sweat, which Tharja was all too familiar with, mixed with the soft scent of Cordelia's perfume, and the musty scents that came from juices associated with sex, all to assault Tharja's nose. The image of hips pounding against hips, of skin against skin, of fingers gripping the edge of a desk, and fist squeezing tight around the black jacket that they had grabbed onto served to assault Tharja's eyes. The image, that for her might as well have been a memory, was burned into all of her senses.

Their movements became more uncontrolled, their breathing more ragged. It was clear that the encounter was approaching its end. Tharja grit her teeth for a moment. It wasn't too late to stop this. She could tell herself that. If they didn't finish, it didn't count, and he could still be hers. She opened her mouth to scream, to say anything that would stop this from going on.

And she found herself without a voice.

No sound escaped her open mouth. Her throat burned with the effort. Her eyes burned as she pushed every last bit of air from her lungs in a scream that made no sound. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she silently sobbed between desperate, and ultimately silent cries. She tried to move forward, so that she might wrench the two of them apart, anything to stop this from continuing, but none of her steps brought her any closer to the desk, or the two people who were over it. She was being robbed of everything that she wanted, and somehow fate had deemed that she would also be denied the ability to do anything to stop it.

As she struggled, she watched the two bodies shudder, as grips tightened and they pulled each other as close together as was possible. She watched hips spasm against hips, heard the sounds of completion. She saw as Cordelia closed her eyes as tightly as possible, her eyebrows furrowing as she felt the sensation of something being pushed out of him, and left as deep inside of her as it could be. When the pegasus knight finally opened her eyes, it seemed it was only to lock eyes with Tharja. A smug smile spread across her lips as Robin slumped forward onto of her body, resting there as sweat beaded on the naked parts of both of their bodies.

Tharja fell forward onto her knees as the dream that had been playing out around her faded away like smoke. She found herself desperately gasping for breath, her shoulders heaving under the task of each ragged gasp of the cool air. Sweat poured from her brow and her lungs burned under the strain of catching her breath, but deep in her core she somehow felt like everything was frozen. Her heart was beating at a mile a minute, thudding against her brain, but at the same time it felt like it was cold, dead, and broken.

She clutched her book tighter against her chest. It wasn't real, just a dream. She said it to herself in her mind over and over again. It wasn't real, just her imagination running wild. She kept asserting it, as if using her very soul to will it into being true. It couldn't be real. She tried to stop her mind there while the thought was an assertion that she could set her reality there.

But her mind had gone too far down this dark and winding road to leave her with any hope to hold onto. It barrelled forward twisting her hope into deeper despair with the addition of the most subtle of doubts.

It couldn't be real…could it?


	2. Chapter 2 - A Hex Called Loneliness

**A Hex Called Loneliness**

The main tent that served as the Shepards war-room was filled with the dancing light of lanterns, and the dull grumble of multiple conversations going on at once. The scouts had doubled their efforts on looking for potential recruits ever since Lucina had revealed that she had companions. Robin had expected it to result in a few more faces around the table, but he hadn't expected the news to bring in so much of the camp the first time it came in.

The current news report was that it appeared that there was a band of brigands terrorizing villages. This by itself was not so much news, but the reports had progressed that they were apparently lead by Chrom. This was patently ridiculous as everyone knew that Chrom had been with them the whole time, and terrorizing villages was not a thing that they did. At first glance it seemed like a Plegian strategy to sew discord among the people that might lend the Shepards aid.

Had that been the end of the report, Robin would have had them march in and wipe these bandits off the map. The problem came up with the extra information that apparently this fake Chrom had a pegasus knight working for him. With just that little bit of extra information this strategy session had gone from simple to total bedlam.

"If a pegasus knight has taken up arms with bandits, they must be under extreme duress." Cordelia was resting her weight against her lance, and staring down at the map of the ravine where they expected to make their stand, "They'll likely turn on their captors when we arrive on the scene."

"Unless they just killed the knight and stole the pegasus." Gaius didn't let his face show any emotion as he used his tongue to roll a hard candy in his mouth, "I know the smell of a trap, and that smell is definitely all over this."

Cordelia looked like she wanted to slap the candy right out of Gaius's mouth, but was stopped when Cherche leant her voice to the conversation, "Clearly you don't ride a mount into battle." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared the thief down, "If bandits were to kill me, I assure you that none of them would be safe anywhere near Minerva."

Robin watched as the conversation changed to the differences between a wyvern and a pegasus. While it may not have been appropriate, he couldn't hide the slight smile at the comment that a pegasus wasn't as likely to eat a bandit. It seemed that everyone had very strong opinions about the use of a pegasus by bandits, what it meant, and what their group should do about it.

Suddenly the conversation took the turn that Robin had been dreading, "So what? You think that this is one of your old training buddies?" Gaius clicked the hard candy against his teeth, "Or are you all excited because you think this pegasus knight might be your kid from the future?"

Cordelia's face turned as red as her hair from a combination of embarrassment and rage, "That's not-" She took a sharp breath to calm her nerves before saying something she'd regret, "This has nothing to do with any of that! If they have a pegasus, it supports that they are Ylissean! We can't have them soiling our good name."

Sumia spoke up, "Even if we don't find the rider, a pegasus is a noble animal that shouldn't be being used for marauding." Her usual klutzy nature disappeared behind a serious face, "We should take it back from them if possible."

"Gregor agrees!" The mercenary smiled as he placed his hands on the table, "Much meat on pegasus. Feed many soldiers."

Silence and horrified expressions spread across the room, but Robin was glad for the momentary respite from the arguing. Everyone at the table was bringing forward valid points. Honestly, Robin had set his mind to undertaking this mission before anyone had tried to bring up the reasons he should. They couldn't afford to let some bandit roam the countryside claiming to be them. They shouldn't have been allowing bandits to roam the countryside at all, but it went double for ones that were undermining their ability to fight this war.

Robin broke the silence as he flopped down in his chair, "Alright, I've heard pretty much every angle on this by now." He looked around the table one last time, "Obviously we can't let this stand," He watched Cordelia beam at Gaius, "but I also agree that this smells fishy, so we're going to go into it expecting it to be a trap." Gaius clicked his candy against his teeth again, and did not seem at all affected by Cordelia's gloating smile.

"That second part means that not everyone is going to be going." Robin watched as this set in to Cordelia and her smile began to fade, "The news that a pegasus knight might be on the field is obviously going to emotionally impact some of our group. I can't afford to have our pegasus knights flying into a hail of arrows because they think they might be able to save an old friend." Cordelia was now noticeably frowning, but did not protest.

Robin continued, "For all we know, this pegasus is going to turn out to be some poor horse that the bandits glued wings onto. In the event that these bandits have stumbled upon a pegasus though, I'd like Sumia to take part in the battle." Cordelia opened her mouth to protest but Robin cut her off before the words could leave her lips, "Unless someone has more experience when it comes to taming a 'wild' pegasus."

The tent was silent as Robin looked over the table. He knew that some people weren't going to like his choices, especially on something like this, but he had to put his foot down. He couldn't have Cordelia on the battlefield, because it was obvious that this had rattled her. He couldn't have her on the field knowing that he mind might be on whether the pegasus knight was one of her friends, or perhaps even her child. He also knew that saying it that way was not going to help, and was glad that Gaius had given him another path to go down.

Once he had started laying out who would be in the party to undertake this mission, the pieces fell together relatively quickly. He would take Sumia for the previously stated reasons. It would be impossible to stop Chrom from coming, given that it was his name the bandits were using. Gaius would be on the lookout for traps, and Henry knew Plegian battle strategies. Miriel and Ricken could use their magic to attack at a distance, which meant they weren't as vulnerable to archers as some other possibilities. He would have taken Tharja, but she had been refusing anyone entrance to her tent all day, and he didn't want to push the issue.

The rest of the party had been filled out by a few volunteers who were eager to get some exercise. Kellam had said that arrows didn't scare him, and the archers probably wouldn't notice him anyway. Lucina had shown interest because of the possibility that this might be one of her comrades from the future. Lissa wanted to be able to help patch up the pegasus knight if they had to come to blows but ended up on the same side, so she'd be going too.

Virion had volunteered, saying that he wanted to see how beautiful an enemy pegasus knight might be. Robin normally would have bent over backwards to get Virion onto the field against a possible airborne threat. Unfortunately the 'future-fever' had a firm grasp in the hearts and minds of the party. Some members of their outfit weren't comfortable with the possibility of an archer shooting arrows at a flier that might be friendly. It also didn't help that people didn't want to think about the possibility of Virion being too forward with someone that might turn out to be their child.

With the away-party set, Robin left orders with Cordelia and Frederick to undertake whatever preparations were necessary to give a pegasus knight a proper welcome. With Frederick's keen attention to detail and niceties, and Cordelia being an actual pegasus knight, their camp would be fit for this knew ally, if that ended up being the case. Their collective fastidiousness also made them among the better choices for people to keep law and order in the camp.

As Robin's team of fighters set off for the forest, he was filled with confidence. No matter who this pegasus knight turned out to be, having their identity not be a mystery anymore was sure to start repairing morale. They had a strong party of fighters, ready to deal with the situation in the forest. He had confidence in the leadership that he was leaving behind. Everything was going exactly according to plan.

oOo0oOo

Arrows tore through the sky, burying themselves in the mud around the rock that Robin was using for cover. The roars of battle echoed off the walls of the ruins and the trees. Somehow his beautiful plan which had made everything seem so easy had been turned on its head, the party had become split.

Henry chuckled from beside Robin, using the same rock for cover, "Well, this is exciting, isn't it?"

Robin pulled out a tome, drawing the elemental power from one of it's pages into his hand. He grit his teeth and poked his head out long enough to send a bolt of crackling electricity streaking through the air at the ruined wall that served as cover for the archers. There were a few screams, but the arrows didn't stop coming, and Robin found himself once again diving for cover behind the large rock.

Henry shook his head, and performed a similar attack preparation. Rather than any elemental attack, what flowed from Henry's fingers was an inky blackness that twisted through the air in a way that made Robin uncomfortable to look at it for longer than he had to. As the twisting black energy landed, more screams came from beyond the crumbling fortress wall, and after that, less arrows came towards them.

The dark magician smiled as he looked on at his handiwork. Robin had forgotten that while Henry did enjoy jokes and laughing, he was also a frightening individual who very much enjoyed the heat of battle.

While he looked like he was totally immersed in the sounds of his spell going off, Henry was not so distracted that he was unable to deflect the arrow that zipped through the air. He smacked it out of the air with the back of his hand. Robin was sure that he had missed something, but upon closer inspection it looked like the edge of the arrow had hit where his hand was covered by that semi-transparent cloth that all of the dark mages wore.

Henry sighed softly and calmly took his place back on the ground with his back to the rock, "Yeah, this definitely makes me feel alive."

"I've been meaning to ask…" Robin was still looking at the back of Henry's hand, "That cloth that all of you dark mages wear."

Henry's eyebrows went up as he looked over to Robin, "You're interested in my battle-cloth? If you don't mind someone else's blood I'm sure I could get you one just like mine."

Robin shook his head and opened his spell tome again, ducking out of reflex when an arrow bounced off of the rock above his head, "It definitely seems powerful, but a skintight body-suit like that seems like it would be a hassle to get in and out of for battle."

The dark mage brought his hands to his face, "Oh my! Is our leader imagining me getting out of my battle-cloth? How scandalous!"

The strategist rolled his eyes before getting up and hurling another bolt of lightning at the enemy archers, "Never mind."

"Haha." Henry hugged one arm around his chest while he drew another spell out of the tome he had propped up on his knee, "Honestly, there is a spell for removing it. A few quick hand-motions and a little magic power and it falls to the ground like I wasn't even in it." He popped up, letting the shadowy tendrils of darkness shoot from his fingertips, the strike punctuated by a final scream.

Henry smiled as he patted his hands together to celebrate his job well done, "I'll teach you the spell on the way back." He forced a blush and clapped his hands against his cheeks, "Unless you think showing more skin to the enemy will stop them from attacking us."

Robin groaned at the bad joke and shook his head as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop Henry from teaching him this new skill as long as he thought it was funny. He also knew that no matter how much he played at the 'unwilling student', the ability to remove an opponent from their armour was a boon that their party rarely got. If they both survived the battle, Robin knew full well that he'd be returning to camp with a new skill.

oOo0oOo

A young girl with a pegasus sat in the mud with her knees pulled up to her chest, and her eyes staring forward blankly. She wasn't sure what to believe anymore. She was sure that she had been fallowing Chrom, but then this new Chrom had shown up, and he definitely looked more like her than the other man claiming to be her father did. She had gone out to issue a challenge, just like a good hero would, and then when she had gotten back everything had gone crazy, and now she was caught in the middle between two armies.

Now here she was in the middle of a battle. She was surrounded by screams and people who wanted to hurt her…and she was completely alone. There was a crushing feeling deep within her chest as she realized that at this very moment she didn't have anyone else that she could rely on. She had trained to be a hero so that she wouldn't feel this way anymore, and somehow, on this battlefield she felt like the helpless girl who had lost her parents all over again.

She rocked back and forth, her mind trying to come to grips with all of the conflicting information. There was a way that this would all make sense, she knew there was. There had to be. Maybe something had happened, and that was why everyone had turned on her before she could get back. Yeah, that was it. The real Chrom had just gotten confused. She'd get up and explain it to him and then everything would make sense again.

The wooden door on the wall beside her crashed open as a man with an axe raced through it to find cover. The girl was sure she had seen him around camp before, but wasn't sure what is name was. She looked up to his face, hoping to see a glint of recognition, but instead only saw a spark of madness.

The barbarian of a man brought his axe down with a hard swing, burying the blade in the mud with a sick sucking noise, "I remember you." A cruel smile spread across his face as he slowly advanced on the girl, "Ruger said we couldn't do nuttn to ya, but Ruger ain't here no more."

The young pegasus knight found her body frozen, unwilling to move as she watched the burly monster before her. She was sure this man was supposed to be her friend, so why would he do anything to her? Who was Ruger? Wouldn't he need his axe in order to continue fighting?

The barbarian's face had twisted into a wicked sneer, "I'm not getting paid no more now dat Ruger ain't here. Bet I could get a pretty penny findin' a buyer for you though." He chuckled as he began to close in on the shivering pegasus knight, "I heard stories about pegasus knights." The lewd expression in his eyes made it clear what sorts of things he meant.

It was true that some people had said that the young pegasus knight was a little bit innocent to the world. Even with that truth, she still understood. She still knew what sort of intentions this burly ruffian had in mind for her. Her hand moved to the ground before her, groping for her lance, or for anything that she might be able to use as a weapon. Unarmed as both of them were, she was certain that she wouldn't be able to keep him from overpowering her.

He was hunched over, his arms spread out to cut off her escape-routes as he closed in on her. In the back of her mind she thought that he almost looked more like a bear than a man. The moonlight from the door that he had come through cast him in silhouette, like some terrifying shadow monster come to consume her. Everything about it reminded her of how weak she was when she was alone…and how terrifyingly alone she was right now.

A soft whistling noise split the air. A moment later a splash of warm blood was on the young girl's horrified face. The monster of a man had stumbled another step forward, and she would have been sure it was to grab her, but there was an expression of dumbfounded shock on his face.

He garbled words, spitting up blood as his hands reached up to his throat. Now that the girl was safe from those grasping hands, she could see a glittering metal point protruding from the front of his throat. His eyes were wide with confusion and terror as he looked back to the door from where the spear had come. He finally fell over into the mud in front of the girl, making a few last gurgling gasps before going still.

Standing in the doorway, with her eyes wide, was a woman with long brown hair. A wing-patterned bow held the bulk of it back in a pony-tail to keep it out of her face. The arm that had loosed the spear was still cast forward, fingers outstretched in an open palm. Her other arm was hugged tightly to her chest, her breathing coming in ragged gasps.

Sumia had thought that she had seen the word of these barbarians when they were just raiding villages. The thought that they would turn and do…the thing that she had stopped. These weren't men, they were monsters. What kind of person could see a confused and frightened girl in the middle of a battlefield and still think to do…that?

She slowly turned her gaze to the young, blue-haired girl. She wanted to say something to comfort her, to tell her that everything would be okay. She wanted to spend this moment being a hero. She wanted very much not to throw up knowing the horrors of what would have happened had she not stopped it. The two conflicting wants kept her from doing much of anything.

Sumia brought the back of her hand to her mouth for a moment and then finally composed herself enough to speak, "It's alright. You're safe now."

The blue haired girl still had eyes that were filled with confusion and terror, but as she continued to look on the terror faded a little bit, "M…Mom?"


	3. Chapter 3 - A Hex Called Desperation

**A Hex Called Desperation**

The inside of the tent was an inky pool of darkness. That wasn't to say that things weren't visible, hidden behind shadows. No, somehow everything was lit in a way that one could see, but also felt half hidden, like a delicious and dangerous mystery. A red candle sat upon the round table in the middle of the tent. It's flame flickered and spat, casting an eerie glow that seemed to stop as it reached the round edges of the table.

The dark sorceress paced from one side of the tent to the other. Her eyes, like the candle, appeared to give off an ominous light. It was surely just a trick of the light. Something about this dark and threatening atmosphere that gave an air of the supernatural to the mundane. Regardless, it pained a powerful picture that was sure to turn away anyone foolish enough to seek entry to the tent.

She brought the edge of her thumb-nail to her lips, catching it between her teeth. This wasn't a time for despair. She couldn't let that feeling creep into her soul. No, that was tantamount to admitting that she had lost, and she couldn't have lost. No matter how long it took, she always got what she wanted. No matter what…Tharja always won.

The solution to her problem was, like the solution to the rest of her problems, a hex. She was a master magician. Bending minds to her will, and producing the desired result was simple, the sort of thing that she could do with the snap of her fingers. She'd bend this situation to her will too…but how?

There were always the classics. She could turn Cordelia into a toad. A smiled filled with malice curled the edges of her lips. She imagined a toad hoping around, mourning its previous life as a human. She imagined capturing it, putting it in a cage, and letting it watch as she took everything from it. She thought about the tormented croaks, and briefly wondered how much suffering a toad's heart would be able to endure.

No. Her smile faded and she shook her head. Much too obvious.

This situation called for a lighter touch, something that couldn't be immediately tracked back to her. Maybe she could come up with something to remove the grandmaster's presence from Cordelia's mind. No, that was dangerous in the event that he needed saving on the battlefield.

Something simpler maybe. Perhaps the emperor's clothes? She smirked as she imagined Cordelia wandering around camp in the buff. Then her mind betrayed her with the images from earlier. No that would clearly not have the desired outcome.

There had to be something! She couldn't be stuck here, helpless to stop what she knew in her very soul was happening. She turned and threw both of her hands down onto the table, locking her elbows to support her body. Her long, slow breaths caused the light of the candle to flicker, as her mind raced to find a solution that continued to elude her. There had to be some angle that she wasn't considering. She had all of this power! She couldn't accept that she was helpless, that there was no way, even with her powers, to weave this disaster into a more agreeable situation.

A low growl came from her throat as she grabbed the spine of a book and turned at her hips to throw it with all of her might. The leather-bound tome soared through the air, crashing into a pile of books of every colour. The small mountain of books tumbled over, transforming from a neat stack to a disordered mess in mere moments. Tharja's breath came in furious huffs as she looked back into the flame of the candle as if it's dancing light might give her the answers that all of those books were keeping from her.

She closed her eyes, and attempted to steady her breathing. Getting riled up before she had a plan wasn't going to help. She needed to stay calm. She remembered a story of a Plegian sorcerer who had freed his mind from the taxes of his research with tedious labour, and in that state of zen had arrived at the perfect solution. She slowly opened her eyes, looking over to the toppled pile of books. It was probably just some silly proverb that the elder sorcerers had come up with to convince novices to do their filing…but nonetheless she did have a pile of tedious labour.

A low sigh escaped her as she turned and bent down to begin collecting the books. She examined the spines, making smaller stacks of books that were in the correct order for her system. She quickly found that her mind was able to work on other things, but also discovered that the other things were not necessarily productive.

She'd pick up a book and start imagining her desired result, where Robin treated her to the passionate pleasure that was her goal. By the time the book was in its proper placer, the darkness of her mind had him leave her on the edge to tend to some other female member of the camp. Leaving her mind free to work, hadn't so much produced a solution, but instead let her play over what would happen should she fail.

Tharja found herself staring at the spine of a grimoire bound in black leather. The arcane text of its title was etched down the slim surface with a fine leaf of silver. She felt a hot tear roll down her cheek, and she closed her eyes tightly bringing the book forward to her forehead to its spine.

A flutter of parchment tickled her ears. Her eyes flashed open as she felt the parchment fall onto her knees. She stared down at it for a long moment as she idly placed the black tome on the edge of her round table. It didn't even register in her mind when the book gave in to the forces of gravity and slipped off of it's precarious position to tumble to the ground. She was entirely focused on page that had literally fallen into her lap.

Her hands shook as they came down, to the folded piece of parchment. They worked delicately to pull the folds apart, spreading the page out to reveal it's contents. Her bottom lip quivered as she looked over the masterwork spell, and she felt herself captured by its beauty.

The magic circle was a complicated weave of much simpler elements. Each part came together for a product that would surely be greater than the sum of its parts. Her fingers traced over some of the elements. She found a stamina booster, a spell to prevent distraction, a sensation enhancer…all of it weaved around a singular, greater spell.

Tharja's lips curled into a fond smile as she looked at all of the work that had been painted onto this page by her hand. It was her 'last play'. The card that she kept in reserve should she ever feel that victory had been slipped away. It was her unbeatable spell, and had it not required that everything else be planned and executed perfectly, she likely would have already used it.

The plan was relatively simple. She would gather the materials that she needed with her usual stealthiness. She would mix and prepare, reading her spell to be fired. After that, it was a simple process of waiting for Robin to be resting and alone, like say, after he had returned from a mission to defeat some bandits claiming to be Chrom. Once all of that was set, it would be time to set off the spell.

The spell, in all of its complexity, was really set to achieve a rather simple goal. Robin would find himself full of energy, his body would tingle with the slightest of touches, and his mind would be free from anything that might distract him from his goal. All of that would serve as the base, for the deep burning need that would flood his senses. A carnal desire that would be undeniable.

As his flesh burned with need, and his mind was filled with nothing but desire, she would slip into his tent. She would appear before him in his moment of need, a warm body to serve as a balm for his burning desire. The spell would leave him with a mind focused only on calming the burning desire inside of him, a body that reacted to her every touch, and the fortitude to continue for as long as Tharja could possibly desire.

But there were reasons that she had held this spell in reserve. Enhancing desires like this was an indirect thing. While she could be assured that he would be filled with a powerful lust, his emotions were not something that she could direct in a specific direction. If she was stopped before she could get to his tent, or someone else arrived before her she would have done all of this work only for someone else to reap the rewards.

There was also the issue that no matter how carefully she planned all of this, Robin was intelligent enough to know something had happened. While the spell would keep him focused on his task until he had satisfied himself, once it had run its course he would know that he had been the victim of a hex.

On a willing participant, such an issue would be trivial as no one would argue against using a little magic to enhance fun. Using it to turn Robin's attention from Cordelia to her was another matter. It was a clear breach of trust, and would most definitely rub against the strategist's morals the bad way. He'd feel betrayed and disgusted, and in the end, Tharja would be left with just the beautiful memories of a night filled with passion.

She bit her bottom lip as she stared down at the parchment for a long moment. She knew what it could cost her. She knew all of the reasons not to move forward with this dangerous gamble. The list of cons was a mountain that cast a shadow so dark that the single pro was drown in a pool of darkness…

…but if she had already lost…

It seemed that the red-headed pegasus knight had already sunk her claws into the strategist. Given that, the danger of all of those cons seemed like a hollow and empty threat. If Robin had already been stolen from her, the threat that she might lose him was laughable and small…and besides, a sea of inky darkness was always where Tharja felt most at home.

She spread the parchment out over her table, her eyes reflecting the flickering candle with a crazed gleam. This wasn't her fault. She had been pushed to this. If there were any other option, she'd pursue it, but that pegasus knight couldn't be trusted to keep her hands to herself. This was the only way that she could see forward. Even if it only lasted for a single night, she would make Robin hers.

All that remained was to gather the supplies that she needed, and to wait for the perfect moment to strike.

oOo0oOo

Cordelia let out a long sigh of disappointment as she continued her patrol of the camp. She knew that this too was an important duty, and not everything was about going on missions. She also couldn't fault the choices that had been made, given the variables that had brought them to those choices. All the same, she wasn't enjoying being here, especially given that was was going on outside of the camp might have given her the information that she craved.

Was this pegasus knight someone that she had gone through training with? Was it someone that she would have called a friend? Was it one of Lucina's companions from the future? Was it maybe her own child, or someone who could tell her what her future held? It was tearing her up inside not to know. She felt like it was killing her that instead of being on the battlefield where all of her answers were, she had been stationed to guard the camp.

Worse than that, it burned her to her very core that Robin clearly been hoping to bring both of the dark mages with him.

while she was able to agree with most of his decisions once he had explained them, that was one where she had wanted to dig in her heels. If this was a trained pegasus knight, then seeing a Plegian dark mage on the field was not going to reassure them that they would be better to switch sides and join their ranks. She had wanted to scream that out, but knew that she had used what good will she had trying to earn her own position in the squad.

She kicked the dirt, her bottom lip turning out into a pout, "I should be there. It isn't like anyone would actually dare to attack our camp or anything."

She knew it was a lie as the words formed in her mouth. If this was all an elaborate trap, someone attacking the camp while their main force was off to battle was exactly the sort of thing that could happen. She also remembered that it wasn't the only reason that she had been left behind, though Frederick had sent her away, saying that her interference would just slow down his preparations.

Her cheeks burned with rage as she remembered that. He had sent her away, like he would know what a pegasus knight would want for a welcome party better than she, an actual pegasus knight would. The man was a genius when it came to fine details, but he also had a talent for being the most infuriating member of their camp.

She brought her gauntlet-clad fist to her chest, closed her eyes and took in a few long breaths to calm her nerves. This was the duty that had been given to her. It wasn't going to do to lose herself in the choices that Robin had made, or the fact that Frederick had sent her away. When she opened her eyes again she was ready to go back to work.

A cool fog had begun to roll into the camp after the party had set out, and evening had begun its transformation into night. The sky was still painted with brilliant magenta hues as the sun finished disappearing over the horizon. Cordelia had sent out the word that they'd need to light torches and lanterns, so that if their adventurers returned in the night, they'd be able to see them. She expected it probably wouldn't do much to fight the tendrils of fog that crept in through the ruins where they had set up camp to settle around their tents.

It wasn't enough to be a problem at the moment, but Cordelia was weary of what might happen if they were attacked through a blanket of thick fog and could no longer tell who was friend and who was foe. She hoped that the fighters that they had sent out to battle weren't facing a similar set of issues.

It was as she rounded one of the weathered stone columns that her eyes for spotted the shadow stalking through the tents. It was hard to be sure what she had seen. The tents already cast long shadows of their own, and the fog was proving to make long rang investigation all the more difficult. She narrowed her eyes slightly before doing a quick scan of her surroundings to see if anyone else might have seen what she had seen. There was no one.

"Well…I guess this is up to me then." She whispered to herself as she crouched down and moved as quickly as she could while maintaining an air of silence.

From the angle that she had spotted it, it looked like whoever she had seen was headed towards the merchant's tent and the storehouse. It could have been something entirely innocent. Maybe someone in camp just needed some supplies. That was what Cordelia wanted to think. She didn't want to entertain that someone in their camp had their heart set on thievery or sabotage.

As she peeked around the corner of a tent she saw the shadow again. A long hooded cape concealed the identity of the shadow. The head swivelled back and forth, the same way that Cordelia's had when she was looking for guards in her vicinity. She watched carefully as the shadow moved forward, pulled open the merchant tent, and then disappeared inside.

Cordelia cursed herself for following the shadow rather than trying to loop around. The lantern that hung from the front of the merchant tent probably would have cast enough light that she could have seen past the hood. Instead, she had been watching from behind, and no matter how keen her senses were, she wasn't going to be seeing through cloth.

Panne probably could have told her who the person was, where they had come from, and what they had eaten for breakfast. Cordelia found herself jealous of the Taguel's heightened senses for a moment.

Cordelia tightened her grip on her lance and swiftly moved between the tents, taking up a post near the merchant tent. She was pretty sure that she had enough cover, and that she had all of the possible escape routes covered. She narrowed her eyes, watching the front of the merchant tent carefully. Soon enough she'd at least know who was sneaking around the camp under the cover of darkness.

It took a few long minutes, but then the flap of the tent parted again, and the shadowy figure slipped back out into the fogy air of the evening. Cordelia blinked, her eyes catching the reflection of a tiara from beneath the hood, as well as the gleam of metal bands and the golden thread that was all standard for a Plegian dark mage. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

What was Tharja doing, sneaking around camp at night? What was so pressing that she needed to go buy it now instead of just waiting until morning?

She could just go up and ask, but with Tharja, she was more likely to spit threats than to answer questions. Cordelia didn't want this to turn into a big fight if it was something totally innocent, and Tharja was a big of a night-owl, so it could be that simple.

But what if that nagging suspicion in the back of her mind was true. What if the witch that they had invited into their family was, and had always been, some secret spy, sent to work against them. Sure it was nice to think that Tharja just needed some threat to patch up her tent, but the possibility that this was all part of something much more sinister still lingered.

Cordelia took a moment to centre herself and then made her decision. She was going to have to investigate this.

Tharja tied the flap closed behind her as she slipped back into the safety of her tent. It wouldn't do to have a gust of wind flip it open and send her ingredients all over the place. She took a few long breaths to steady herself for her work, and pulled the long cape off of her shoulders, draping it over the mannequin that served as her cape-rack.

The bag that held her components slapped the side of her hip as she moved around the table. She slipped the strap over her head and placed the bag carefully on the table next to the parchment that held her magic circle.

She moved with a careful quickness, placing a shallow clay cup in the centre of the circle, and slowly adding one ingredient after another to its contents. Her lips curled up in a soft smile as she set to work. This felt like her natural state, working on a hex, preparing dark magics.

Her fingers traced along the edges of the low cup, pouring in small tendrils of her magic, and making sure that all of the ingredients fell into their proper place. Her smile grew slightly darker as she reached into her bag and drew out the last ingredient. It was a small glass vail. More specifically, it was the strands of brilliant white hair that were contained within the glass vial. Her fingers caressed the side of the vail lovingly and then she placed it on the table, leaning it against one of her books.

"It's almost ready…" Even if it was just for herself, she had to gloat a little bit. All she had to do was add the ingredient to identify Robin as the recipient of her gift, and then the spell would activate. Nothing was going to stop her plan now, "My masterpiece…when Robin gets back and is all alone…that's when I'll have you do your work."

The flap of the tent was suddenly ripped open, and the cool night air invaded the inside of the tent. Tharja's eyes went up immediately as she involuntarily took a step back from her spell. What was this all of a sudden? She thought she had drilled it into everyone in camp that her tent was not open to visitors.

The intruder took a firm step into the tent, her long red hair trailing behind her as she moved to close the distance. Her lance came up it's sharp point stopping inches from the throat of the sorceress behind the table. Cordelia's deadly glare exuded a level of intimidation that Tharja would not have thought the pegasus knight capable of.

"I should have expected this from a traitorous spider." Even in the confines of the dark tent, Cordelia's armour seemed to shine with a holy light, "How long have you been planning this attack, Plegian witch?"

Tharja's face contorted into a scowl. Of course a pegasus knight would only be able to see magic as a way to attack someone. If it had been anyone else to storm in on her, Tharja would have just written it off as bad luck, but this…meeting with her rival was some sort of cursed fate.

Her fingers twitched as she tried to run through her mind where the nearest offensive spell book was. It was too late that she realized that had been what she had thrown into the stack of books earlier. It was now feet away from her, and the barriers of the table, the lance, and the damnable pegasus knight stood between her and it.

This wasn't fair. She almost had it. She had been so close. If she moved right now she could probably put the last piece of the spell together before Cordelia could stop her. She could, but then what? Robin wasn't close enough that she'd be able to get to him as the spell took effect. The worst case scenario would be if he was still engaged in battle when the spell worked its way into him. Even if he was in camp right now, there's no way that the sorceress could get past this intruder if she did cast the spell.

"Are you even trying?" Tharja glared at Cordelia through her bangs, "Does it take effort, or is your ability to ruin everything something you come by naturally?"

Cordelia brought her other hand up, now gripping her lance tightly with two fists. She pushed it forward slightly, the tip pressing slightly into Tharja's collarbone, "Defeating Plegian villains isn't hard when you've had my kind of experience." Her eyes still held a dangerous light, like she was waiting for an excuse to do more than just poke the sorceress, "If you surrender now I won't have to hurt you."

Tharja grit her teeth as she seethed with anger. Now Cordelia was concerned about hurting her? This woman had destroyed her! She had taken everything that was good, leaving behind only the twisted and dark dregs of hope. Tharja hadn't wanted to do this. This hadn't been her choice. She had been pushed here, desperate to have just one sweet memory of what would have ultimately been a false love.

"What the hell is going on here?" The voice had come from behind Cordelia. The tall man with brown hair let his eyes travel back and forth from one woman to the other, "One of the guards came to tell me that there was a situation."

Cordelia smirked as she adjusted her grip on her lance, "Perfect timing, Frederick. I caught the witch preparing for some kind of spell that she was going to cast on Robin."

Tharja cast her head to the side, staring at the ground. Fear had stolen the initiative from her. If she had moved quicker she probably could have escaped the lance or at least ruined Cordelia's pretty little face with her nails before she was brought low. Now that Frederick was here as well, any chance she had of escape was gone.

Frederick looked genuinely confused as he looked from the one girl to the other. He wasn't quite sure what he should believe. Once his eyes found the table that the women were standing on either end though, he seemed to have made up his mind.

"The people who could make any sense out of that are all off on a mission." He locked eyes with Tharja. His calm brown eyes seemed to hold a light of disappointment, like he had been hoping for something else, "We'll put you in the dungeon until the people who can decide what should be done with you return."

Tharja closed her eyes, and slowly brought her wrist up, presenting them to Frederick. The cold steel manacles that he locked around her wrists were heavy and made her shoulders slump forward in defeat. Now even her freedom was being taken away. These people…why couldn't they just understand? Why couldn't they leave well enough alone? Her eyes flashed over to the proud face that Cordelia was wearing. Why did they have to take everything away from her?

Tharja spoke in a dark and menacing whisper, "I bet you think you've won." Her bangs fell forward, hiding her eyes completely from sight, "This doesn't mean you'll get to keep him, you know." Frederick pulled her forward by the manacles, hoping that would be enough to stop her from spouting this craziness.

Cordelia couldn't let it stand though, "Of course this isn't a win, Tharja." Her eyes now seemed to be filled with pity, and that cut Tharja deeper than she could have imagined, "We trusted you, and now you've shattered that trust."

Tharja growled as she was escorted out of the tent by the two knights, "You should enjoy Robin while you have him, pegasus knight." She wasn't going to verbally acknowledge that Cordelia had a name, "One day…one day soon, I'm going to steal him away from you, and it'll only be me that he sees."

Frederick stared straight ahead as he crossed the camp with Tharja in tow. He didn't know what any of this was, or how to deal with it. It was moments like this that he was glad that he traveled with people like Chrom and Robin who could be able to make sense out of this total disaster. It was nice when all he had to do was follow the rules and take arrested individuals to the dungeon.

The dungeon, as it was, was a small stone room, remnants of the ruins that they were currently using for camp. Frederick had insisted that they needed a dungeon as clear consequences were a good deterrent to wrong-doers. It wasn't something that anyone had ever expected that they were going to have to use. Frederick had half expected that when it came time to move again, Chrom was going to tell him that it wasn't necessary to set it up at their new location.

They had pounded a spike with a chain into the ceiling as that was easier than carrying around a barred door. Frederick truly had never imagined that he would be locking it to a pair of manacles like he was doing now. It was always just supposed to be more of a paper tiger than an actual prison.

Once he had fastened her manacles, Frederick turned and headed towards the door of the small room they had made into their jail. He turned his head and gave the sorceress one last sorrowful look before exiting the room. He wasn't sure what actually using the dungeon was going to do to them. Was this going to become a normal thing. He let out a long sigh, and then left the room.

Tharja was left to stew in her defeat and hang from the chains. Her head hung from her shoulders and she stared at the cobblestone floor of the ruined stone house. She had been so close to victory, and somehow all of it had been stolen from her. Somehow that pegasus knight had stolen everything from her, even the last thread of potential happiness that she had been grasping so desperately for.

She scowled bitterly as Cordelia's voice from the hallway carried back into her little room, "Why did we even let a turncoat like that into the Shepherds?"

Frederick's voice came next, "She's a skilled magician, and no one ever thought her interest in Robin would become dangerous." There was a long pause for a moment before he continued, "Maybe if I knew what she meant when she was talking about you and Robin…"

"I have no idea what she was talking about." Cordelia let out a long sigh, "She's just crazy, I guess."

Tharja narrowed her eyes, glaring angrily at the stone floor before her. That was just like a pegasus knight. She couldn't admit that she had been sleeping around with her superior. That sort of thing might reflect badly on her. Tharja rocked her body back and forth to the extent that the chains holding her wrists above her head would allow. She knew she'd be out of here eventually, and when she was, then she could start work on that hex all over again. She wasn't going to let some prim and proper soldier who was pretending to still be an innocent flower defeat her.

"Even roses have thorns." She spat out the whisper as she glared at the door to her cell, "I won't let a few pricks keep me from getting what is mine."


	4. Chapter 4 - A Hex Called Doubt

**A Hex Called Doubt**

It was still dark when the party that had gone out to fight the Chrom imposter returned to camp. They were tired, a little battered, and covered in mud, but it was another successful mission. Robin had been excited for a celebration, maybe they would even tap into that ale that one of the towns had given them as a reward for pushing off bandits a few months ago. Everything had worked out on the mission, and with Cordelia and Frederick in charge, he was sure that everything would have worked out back at camp.

"You can't be serious." Robin stared over the war-room table at the two knights who stood before him.

As they had returned, Robin had been grabbed by one of the guards and informed that an issue of some import needed his attention. Apparently something had happened while he had been gone. Frederick and Cordelia had been waiting in the tent to debrief him on the events that he had missed.

"I'm afraid it's true." Frederick stared forward, always the diligent soldier, "I'll take full responsibility for my part in allowing her entry into the Shepherds."

Robin waved off that comment, "Stop." He sank into his chair letting his head roll back in defeat, "If this is a joke, the two of you need to fess up right now."

Cordelia shook her head, holding her hands behind her back, "This is deadly serious. She was working on a spell, and I heard her confess that she was planning on casting it on you, sir."

Robin was pretty sure that he was feeling fine. He didn't feel like he had been weakened, and no one had commented that he was doing or saying things that he wouldn't normally do. He sighed as he looked at Cordelia, and then to Frederick, "Did it look like she actually cast anything?"

"We're no magicians." Frederick spoke up quickly, stopping Cordelia before she began any wild speculation.

His plan didn't work, "I'm pretty sure I stopped her before she could finish casting it." She shook her head, "Dangerous stuff that dark magic. I shudder to think of what it might have done to you if she had cast it."

The strategist groaned as he brought his hands up to rub at his temples. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if he had left one of the other magic users here at camp. As it was now, he was going to need to call them to investigate, and after the fatigue of the battle, he knew that wasn't going to make anyone happy.

How had this all gone so stupid? Right now he should have been celebrating with the rest of the camp. He should have been eating food that had too much fat in it, and consuming drinks that would impair his ability to worry about what was going to happen tomorrow. Things weren't supposed to be a constant battle to put out fires like this.

He slapped his hands against the table and pushed himself to his feet, "Alright. Get the magic users to Tharja's tent. If this is dangerous we don't dare let it sit there all night." He shook his head slowly, "I'll deal with this one, but you bring the next disaster to Chrom, alright?"

Frederick and Cordelia gave each other shaky glances that communicated all too well that they knew he didn't actually mean that. They nodded anyway and then set off to gather the mages so that they could start their investigation.

oOo0oOo

Henry stared down at the parchment with his chin caught between his thumb and fore-finger, "I don't think she activated it, whatever it is…"

"I think it would be best to destroy all of this. Dark magic is dangerous." Miriel pushed her glasses back up her nose, but continued to look down at the desk and everything on it like it was something dirty.

Robin stood a few feet back from everyone else with his arms crossed over his chest, "If we don't know if it's gone off, it's probably best if we don't touch it more than we have to."

Ricken pushed himself up onto his tiptoes to try and get a different angle on the spell, "Do you think it might be dangerous?" There was a sliver of excitement in his voice as he looked over the dark magic that was laid out before him.

"Anything's possible." Henry continued to smile and then leaned slightly towards Ricken, "It's the dark witch, Tharja that we're talking about. It could melt your eyes out of your head."

As Ricken made haste to back away from the table, Henry chuckled softly, obviously enjoying his joke. To Robin, none of this was a joke at all. He was in a tent, looking at something that for all he knew could turn their entire camp into a desolate swamp of blood and gore. You wouldn't put a copy of Thoron into the hands of a novice magician, and until they understood what they were looking at, Robin wasn't willing to roll the dice.

"Honestly though, I don't think it's dangerous." Henry's usual jovial smile had given way to a much more serious face as he continued to examine the table.

Miriel narrowed her eyes slightly as she cast a glance towards Henry, "Are you confident enough to risk all of our lives on that theory?"

Henry let out a wounded gasp, as he held his open palm to his chest, "Are you trying to suggest that I'm not familiar with all of the possible spells that Tharja would be able to use to instantly kill everyone in camp?"

Miriel scowled and adjusted her glasses again, "You're right. You're just as dangerous as she is. Perhaps we'd all be safer if you were locked up as well."

"Alright, alright. That's enough." Robin took a step forward to place himself between the two magicians who were each masters of their respective, if opposite, disciplines, "You can fight later, what I want to know right now, is what it is that we are all looking at."

The youngest of the magic wielders shook his head, "All of this is a little bit over my head, but I don't see anything here that's poisonous." Ricken shrugged a little bit, "I mean…as long as it doesn't activate, it should be safe to just leave it here."

Finally some good news. The last thing that Robin needed was for one of these elements to turn out to be toxic, and to have everyone in the camp laid out with a sickness that they had gotten from wandering too close to Tharja's tent. It didn't answer the questions of what it was that they were looking at, or why someone would have done this, but it had at least they knew there wasn't an immediate need to exit the tent to reduce exposure.

"I don't see any of the common runes for a contagious hex either." Henry continued to eye everything before him carefully, "It looks like whatever this is, was meant to be directed at a target."

"So a single person?" Robin looked over to Henry, the hope in his voice probably a little bit too evident.

"Not necessarily." Miriel spoke up in an authoritative tone, "The 'target' could be the entire camp." Henry looked like he wanted to protest, but couldn't come up with anything that would be a fitting protest.

The strategist closed his eyes and took a long breath. He was regretting calling all of the available magicians in her at the same time. While whatever they were looking like might not have been dangerous, the air between Miriel and Henry was starting to feel like it was tinted with a dangerous element. Still, they were providing him with more useful information every time they tried to cut each other down.

Henry crossed his arms and shook his head slowly, "I suppose the target could be the whole camp, but spreading the effects of a magic circle this small over a space as big as the whole camp…" He chuckled softly, "I mean, maybe if all she wanted to give everyone the hiccups."

It was nice to think that it might be something as innocent as that. Playing a practice joke like that was still not okay, but given how tense everyone was these days, it might have ended up being a solution to their recent morale problems. Maybe that had been the plan all along. Maybe everyone was losing their heads over a silly practical joke that would have had everyone laughing when they thought back to it a week from now.

Of course, Robin didn't actually think any of that flowery possibility was true. In his experience the magical circle that he was looking at wasn't what someone would call 'tiny' or even 'small'. It looked to him like a standard sized circle. While most dark-magic runes were still gibberish to him, he could still tell that these ones were the work of a skilled hand that paid close attention to details.

"I mean…" Henry spoke up again, "It's big enough that if it was directed at a single person, this would probably do whatever it does pretty well."

Robin groaned as Henry put words to his thoughts, "Can we find out what the target was supposed to be?"

Henry shook his head, "Not without taking it apart." He let out a defeated breath, "Tharja uses a different short-hand than I do, and she's especially secretive about her work. For the same reason I can't tell you what this does, I can't tell you who it might be aimed at."

"If it used a civilized structure, like our elemental magic, I'd be able to tell you everything about it." Miriel's eyes traced over the various runes, and suspiciously eyed the ingredients.

Henry shot her a smug smirk, "If it was elemental magic, all it would be able to do is blast someone with an element." He chuckled as Miriel's eyebrows furrowed, "If it makes you feel better to pretend that fireballs are more refined than curses and hexes, that's your prerogative."

Miriel snapped back without missing a beat, "Elemental magic is much more than just 'throwing fireballs'! I have half a mind to-"

"You two fights just like my parents used to." Ricken's eyebrows were tightly furrowed as he tried to ignore the other magicians, "I'll bet your guys' kid is the next future person we meet."

There was a moment of silence as the words sunk in, and it was punctuated by Henry bursting into hysterical laughter. Miriel at first went pale as a ghost before a deep blush crept into her cheeks. She pushed her chin out and straightened her glasses, continuing to try and present herself as a refined lady who was not swayed by such accusations. Robin felt like he should have said something to reprimand Ricken, but for the first time since he had gathered everyone in the tent, it didn't feel like people were going to be at each other's throats anymore.

Robin sighed, "Alright, so lets go over what we know one more time. It doesn't look like it's gone off, it doesn't look like it was an attack, in this state it isn't dangerous, and as long as we don't touch it, it's probably stable." He let the pause hang in the air for a moment, "That's the situation I'm looking at?"

All of the magic users nodded in unison. Robin had half a mind to tell them to destroy whatever this was, just to be sure that they hadn't made any mistakes. Instead he remembered that he had done what a good leader does and surrounded himself with smart people who knew their stuff. He'd follow their judgement.

"Fine. I guess we're done." He looked around the tent, "Tharja's tent is off limits until we know what we're dealing with here. As the magic users, I trust you'd know what someone who wanted to set this off would look like. I know we're all tired, but I'd appreciate you guys taking watch until we've closed the book on this."

Again the mages all nodded in agreement. They may have had thoughts to complain, but it was hard to argue with the logic. With his orders issued and accepted, Robin turned and left the shadowy tent behind.

oOo0oOo

As Robin began his trek to his person tent he heard heavy footfalls moving to catch up to him. He did not slow down. If this was more bad news, he was pretty sure that the few moments that he had earned for himself by continuing to walk would somehow make it easier to deal with.

"Robin!" Cordelia's breath was coming hard. He remembered someone telling him that running was the one thing that Cordelia did not excel at, "Did you find out anything more about that spell?"

Robin let out a soft sigh, "We don't think it's dangerous, so there's that." He shrugged softly as he continued to make way towards his personal tent.

"Do you think it might have been some sort of assassination attempt or something?" Cordelia looked genuinely concerned.

The strategist shook his head slowly, "Right now we don't know a whole lot." He stopped and turned to Cordelia as they arrived in front of his tent. Somehow he thought that if he just kept going it wasn't going to make her stop, "I am about to go into my tent, where I am going to get this mud off of me and change my clothes." Cordelia continued to stare at him like she was waiting for instructions, "If you follow me into my tent while I am changing, I am going to scream."

Cordelia blushed profusely and turned to look away from him and the tent, "I'm sorry, sir."

Robin closed his eyes and took a long breath as he moved to open the flap to his tent, "You can stop worrying, Cordelia." He gave her one last look, "I need a few minutes to get changed and put my thoughts in order, but after that I'm headed right over to talk to Tharja and get to the bottom of this." He put on his most reassuring smile, and then he slipped into the privacy of his tent.

He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. He hung his coat over the back of a chair, and began peeling off the rest of his clothes that were soaked with mud and the day's sweat. He still couldn't believe how off-track this day had gotten. He dropped himself into his chair, and just tried to organize the events of the past few hours in his head.

They had gone into battle, and saved that pegasus knight. The girl had ended up being another one of Chrom and Sumia's daughters. Robin had to admit that Chrom having two future children and neither of them being a male heir did have him a little tickled. Apparently the girl had been in a pretty dark place when they had brought her in. Something about one of the other bandits turning on her. It just went to show that you never knew what someone was capable of. By the time they had gotten back to camp, their new friend did seem to have a little bit more light in her eyes, so that was good.

Of course, once they had gotten back to camp, this whole situation had spilled out onto his lap. Could Tharja have done something that was dangerous? He had seen the spell himself, so he knew that whatever it was, it was real. He just couldn't picture Tharja doing something that would actually hurt him…or anyone in their camp really. Sure she was meant to a lot of people, and she had a way of sneaking around that was a little unsettling. Robin had always just seen her as a very passionate woman who wouldn't give someone an opportunity to say 'no' when she wanted to hear 'yes'. He had actually found it kind of charming.

There were a lot of things about Tharja that he had found charming now that he thought about it. The dark and mysterious allure that made her seem dangerous, also made her very alluring. The form-fitting outfit that she wore into battle, that covered so much, but at the same time left almost nothing to the imagination had left him struggling to get comfortable in his seat during quite a few meeting with her.

And of course there was the way that she acted like she was totally obsessed with him. At first it had made him a little bit uncomfortable to have so much attention. She was a stunning beauty, and based on the whispers around camp, she could have gone to bed with any man (and several women) who she might chose. He had thought that it might have been her defensive mechanism, to show an extreme amount of affection for him to keep anyone who might be interested in claiming her away.

It definitely had kept the rest of the camp away. There were other whispers that he had heard, and apparently most of the scouts thought that he and Tharja were already in a relationship of a more…adult nature. There had been jokes that the next future child the found would definitely be the product of the dark witch and their strategist. He had tried to stop the rumours to protect Tharja's honour, and because when he heard them, he thought about it, and thinking about it always led to restless nights.

Robin shook his head sharply as such thoughts began creeping into his brain, and causing clear and obvious biological reactions. Thinking those thoughts right now certainly wasn't going to be helpful. Even if those were things that he thought about, now that Tharja was his prisoner. He suspected that the alluring flirting that she always showered upon him was set to come to a rather abrupt end when he started asking his questions.

He slowly pushed himself to his feet again and walked to the corner where his wash-basin was waiting for him. He dunked the wet cloth into the cool water and then splashed the water against his face to clear his thoughts. If he was going to interrogate her, he couldn't give her any way to get into his head. She couldn't see him sweat. She couldn't hear his voice crack. If she found a chink in his armour she'd pull it all of of him. He needed to be the one in control.

Once he had rinsed off the day's sweat he pulled on a new set of clothes. He took the time to make sure that all of his seams were straight and he looked as collected as ever. He was going off to have a mental battle with his most terrifying opponent yet.

He looked into the tall mirror in his tent and nodded, "Alright, then. One last disaster and then I can finally come back here and relax."


	5. Chapter 5 - A Hex Called Lust

**A Hex Called Lust**

The makeshift cell was dry, and there was even a window to give it some light. Honestly, Robin thought that they had picked a very human location for their little 'jail'. It was certainly better than what he would have expected if he had been captured.

He had thought that it was quite the stroke of luck when they found the abandoned ruins that they had built their camp around. The walls would serve to keep them from being attacked from a distance, and it was always nice when there stone rooms that they could use instead of setting up tents. Still he hadn't expected that the stone rooms were still going to be this well maintained.

Of course, regardless of how well the rooms were maintained, this was still their little prison cell. He was pretty sure it wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that somehow the air felt like it had a deadly tinge to it. He wasn't sure if it was real, or if it was just the way that his mind was processing the icy aura that surrounded Tharja, who stood stock still in the middle of the room. Somehow, even with her wrists held high above her head by chains and manacles, she still seemed like some sort of deadly beast that could swallow him whole with a single thought.

It wasn't going to do for him to get frightened of her at the start of the interrogation though. He planted his feet firmly and locked his eyes with those of the shadowy sorceress before him, "I guess we should get right to it." His lips were curled into a slight frown, "So just what was that spell supposed to do anyway?"

Tharja's dark eyes followed every move that Robin made carefully, as if she was weighing all of her options, and composing her response with the utmost of care, "It was just something to loosen you up a little bit."

"I'm not sure what that means." Robin crossed his arms over his chest. All of the expert opinions he'd gathered in her tent had told him that whatever Tharja's hex had been meant to do probably wasn't 'dangerous'. He didn't have trouble believing her when she said she didn't mean any harm, "Would you care to elaborate?"

Tharja hadn't been expecting this level of continued calm, but it wasn't something that she found unwelcome. Her lips curled into a sly smile before she spoke, barely above a whisper, "Just something to awaken the desires inside."

Robin began, "I don't-" but stopped promptly before finding the end of that sentence. When he thought about it, he probably did had a fair idea as to what that meant, but that was more information that he wasn't sure what to do with if he was right, "What exactly was that hex supposed to do to me?"

Even with her arms held above her head by chains, Tharja still exuded a confidence that made it seem like she held all the cards here, "Isn't it obvious, Robin?" Her delicate pink tongue poked out to swiftly lick her lips, "My intention was that you would become a lustful beast."

"Okay…" Robin brought his hand up again, massaging the sides of the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, "Can I assume that there was more to this plan?"

A derisive scoff slipped past Tharja's lips, "Clearly the next step was that I would use my body to alleviate your condition and help you to destress."

Robin looked up at the ceiling. He was having difficulty accepting that Tharja was using a tone that made it seem like she thought that he was the idiot in this conversation. This whole plan seemed way too careless for Tharja. She was usually so careful about every plan that she came up with, almost to an obsessive level. She followed him all of the time, so it stood to reason that if she didn't want yo get caught, she should have been able to avoid that as well. This seemed less like the smart and driven Tharja that he had seen so much of, and seemed more like an act of desperation.

He wasn't sure why she had switched into this desperate gear, but he knew that asking her straight up was likely to just make her defensive, "This plan seems pretty dangerous. I mean, what if your hex had worked out with you tied up like this?"

The dark sorceress turned her head to the side, pushing her bottom lip out in a clear pout before muttering softly, "Then I guess someone else would have probably broken it."

"Excuse me?" His eyebrow raised, Robin watched Tharja more carefully. The impulsiveness of Tharja's plan was becoming more obvious, and he knew that if he pushed her a little more he might find out why.

"Cordelia!" Tharja snapped her eyes narrowed dangerously as she spat the name. "Sweet, smart Cordelia would have gone to check up on you because of how studious she is." Her lips curled back in a smile that held nothing but rage, "You two would have had a hot passionate night to make her earlier visit to your tent seem as innocent as a tea party!" Tears had begun to well up in the corners of Tharja's eyes, "After that the two of you would probably end up living happily ever after or something, and never spare another thought for the creepy stalker in the dungeon."

Suddenly things were clear. Tharja had spotted Cordelia sneaking into his tent to ask him her questions a few days ago and her mind had filled in all of the blanks in the most salacious ways that it could. Robin slowly brought his hand up again to press the bridge of his nose, in a pose that was beginning to become a bit of a habit. Somehow a misunderstanding had snowballed into this huge disaster. He was also pretty sure that he could directly trace all of the elements of this back to the future situation making all of the camp relationships awkward.

Robin listened to Tharja sniffle as she stared at the ground at his feet, "Tharja…" He let out a deep sigh as he mentally organized the truth in a way that it couldn't be misunderstood, "Cordelia was asking me for advice in her romantic pursuit of Frederick,"

Tharja had stopped sniffing, and now was just staring at the ground. It seemed that she had made a rather grave miscalculation…but she couldn't leave the slate like that. She straightened herself up and eyed Robin with an expression of total confidence, but eyes that betrayed her inner turmoil, "Lucina's always checking up on you, and she's a royal, so I'm sure she'd do." Her eyes continued to watch for any reaction from the Shepherds strategist, "And that shop girl is always meeting up with you to talk about 'supplies'." The way that Tharja said supplies suggested something else.

Robin stared at Tharja with a blank expression. He thought about the things that she had said, the accusations that she had made, then he took in a long slow breath, and began to walk forward. Tharja, for her part, continued to exude confidence, with the small exception of her quivering bottom lip. She kept her chin held high and watched as Robin approached her. When he stopped in front of her, she stopped any quivering with a tight smirk.

"See? My plan was perfect after all." She let out a soft chuckle and turned her head to throw back some of the hair that had fallen forward when she had seemed defeated, "I planned for everything."

Robin's head had fallen forward, his bangs casting a shadow over his face and hiding his eyes. He was at most a step away from Tharja, but still there was nothing that she could do to read his expression. She eyed him carefully, trying to get the answers that she knew he would never say. What did he think about her brilliant plan? Was he impressed? Had her deviousness scared him? Had spelling out everything like this made the plan to real?

"So it was always part of your plan that I would attack some helpless member of our party…" He spoke the words softly, but in a frighteningly calm way. He slowly began walking again, moving around Tharja so that he was somewhere behind him. She would have turned to follow him, but was having trouble with that kind of maneuver given her chains. He spoke again, "I told you that it was a dangerous plan."

Tharja gasped sharply, "Wait, are you saying that my hex worked?" After a moment of silence she forced a mirthless smile, "I bet it was Lucina."

"Tharja." The authoritative tone in Robin's voice made the dark magician shiver slightly, "Obviously your hex didn't work. I mean, you would have been the first one to know, right?"

Tharja narrowed her eyes and tried to turn her head to look back at Robin, only to find that her arms being held up by the chains prevented her from seeing what was happening behind her. Her voice had a cold edge to it when she spoke up, "What are you talking about? I've been chained up in here the whole time." She rattled the chains a little to further illustrate her point.

"Exactly." Robin's arms shot out around Tharja. One hand came up, dextrous fingers wrapping around and breast to give it a firm squeeze, while the other snaked under the front of her skirt to let fingers trace over her most intimate of intimates, "I've spent all of this time knowing exactly where you were, and how completely helpless you are."

Tharja squirmed as the fingers of Robin's right hand continued to work over her nethers through the sheer material that covered most of her body as well as her undergarments. The fingers of his left hand moved around, teasing her nipple through the cup of dark fabric that held it. She wanted to speak, to say something, anything, but her mind was running on blanks, and the only things that escaped her lips were wordless gasps for air as Robin's hands assaulted her senses.

Robin pressed his hard body against Tharja's back, a certain hard part of his body pressing into the roundness of her ass, "Why would I even think about Lucina when the scantily clad dark mage, who would hardly need a hex to turn me into a 'lustful beast' is hanging in the dungeon, helpless to stop me from doing anything that I want with her?" He knew deep in his mind that he might be taking this a little bit too far, but he needed Tharja to understand that doing things like she had been doing had consequences.

"N-nghnnnt…mmmeagpsss" Tharja struggled to form words, still a victim of how unexpected this turn of events was as much as anything else.

Just a little bit more teasing, and then he'd stop. That was Robin's plan as he brought his lips to her ear and whispered, "Something you'd like to say?" And with that, his fingers stoped their efforts, leaving the dark mage a chance to catch her breath.

As she struggled to catch her breath, Tharja gripped the chain that held the manacles around her wrist to keep herself from taking too much damage, should her knees go out. Once she had finally caught her breath, she rolled her hips, enjoying the friction against Robin, and half moaned out, "I'm not helpless…" Her breathing was still ragged, but somehow she could still exude an aura that suggested she was the one in total control of this situation

Robin's eyebrow arched up slightly, "Really?" The hand that had been working her breast moved up curl around one of the golden bangles that hung around the dark magician's wrists, "And how exactly do you plan on stopping me?"

A dark smile formed on Tharja's lips as she looked straight ahead, "My sweet naive Robin…" She turned her head to attempt to look back at him again while she rolled her hips back against his once more, "You're totally powerless to do anything other than exactly what I want you to do."

Suddenly Robin stopped everything. His fingers leaving her body left her body feeling cold in the places that they had been teasing. He backed away from her, and while she struggled to correct this new development, Tharja was left in a position where she could not regain the much-needed contact. Her eyes went wide as panic shot through her body. She was sure she had out-played the strategist, what could have gone wrong?

"You might be right." He spoke the words barely above a whisper, almost like he was talking ho himself instead of to the woman who stood before him, "This could all be part of your hex…and if I do anything now, it would be like showing the whole camp that I am vulnerable…"

Robin was fairly sure that he was not under the influence of any hex. He had been researching how to counter such spells since before Tharja had joined the Shepherds, and her being there had, if anything, made him more diligent in his efforts. He was fairly sure…but he had found it to be a chore to pull away from the dark magician, so maybe he didn't know as much as he thought. In either case, it was quickly becoming clear that continuing was not likely to be a learning experience for Tharja, so stopping was the correct thing to do as a leader.

"Robin?" She struggled, trying to turn so that he would be within her view again. Her struggling ended as Robin emerged from behind her and began to walk back to the original position he had taken in the doorway.

He was holding his palm up, and appeared to be examining it carefully as he slowly opened and closed his hand. When he spoke his voice was still calm and cool, but it was clear that it was directed at her this time, "So tell me again how I would break this hex?"

The sorceress shifted her weight from one leg to the other to rub her thighs together. When she spoke she wasn't sure if she did it consciously or not, but she puffed up her chest, as if presenting it to him, "Intercourse." Her tongue played with every syllable as she let out the lascivious whisper, "My hexes don't end until they've…" She paused for effect to licked her lips suggestively, "…climaxed." Her eyes beckoned him to return to her, while her hips rocked back and forth enticingly.

"And you said anyone will do?"

Tharja felt her blood turn to ice-water. She froze and her eyes went as wide as saucers. She had thought that their little game of wits was shaping up to be some very enjoyable foreplay, so how had things gone wrong so quickly? Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly as she tried to think of a way to turn this around. In the back of her mind she knew it had been a mistake to start a mind-game with a strategist.

Robin turned back towards the door of Tharja's 'cell', "I suppose I'll return once I'm well and truly certain that I've dispelled your hex."

"It didn't work!" She taken half a step forward, flexing her shoulders and arms painfully as they pulled against the chains. She realized only after the words had left her mouth that she was admitting to having her spell fail, and she bit her bottom lip to further punish herself for such weakness. Now Robin would see her as a failure of a dark magician, who couldn't even perform a hex. What use would he have for her then?

He turned his head slowly looking back at her over his shoulder, "Oh?"

Tharja looked down, using her bangs to hide as much of her face as possible, "That pegasus knight stopped me before I could use your hair to make you the target." Admitting that Cordelia had stopped her tasted sour in her mouth.

Well, that confession had suddenly answered a lot of his questions. He slowly turned so that he was facing her again, crossing his arms over his chest, "Where did you get my hair from?"

The dark mage looked up to lock eyes with Robin. She wasn't sure that she should really reveal her source, but something about Robin's eyes made her feel like he'd know if she lied, "That merchant girl Anna sold it to me."

Robin let out a long slow breath as he closed his eyes. It looked like at least he had ever been in danger after all. He had heard that Anna was selling what she advertised to be his hair. It may have been hair, and if so, it probably belonged to someone. She had asked him one day for his clippings, and he remembered clearly telling her that if she was caught selling such things without the donor's permission there would be hell to pay. It kind of made this whole situation less dangerous and more dangerous at the same time that they didn't know where the hair had actually come from…but Robin wasn't sure he should reveal that set of truths.

"I was desperate." She continued to gently rock in place, "You were gone, it wasn't like I could steal clippings while you slept like I normally would."

Robin walked forward, stopping beside tharja, his fingers splayed over the bottom half of his face, "If I let you go you're just going to do it again."

The dark mage nodded her head slowly as she looked forward, refusing to meet Robin's eyes, "As many times as it takes."

Robin began walking again, once more settling into the space directly behind her, where she couldn't see him, "As many times as it takes until what?"

Tharja stood proud, setting the perfect image of someone who was on the right and just course, "As many times as it takes for you to realize that I am the only woman worthy of you."

Robin looked down at his hands, following the movements that he had been taught on his return journey from the last mission, "Then I guess you've forced my hand." His palm fell flat against her back, between her shoulder blades. He pushed her forward, causing her to bend forward at the hips, and then all it took was a little bit of magic power.

As the sheer material of Tharja's battle-cloth fell away, her eyes went wide. She felt a chill run down her spine as freshly exposed skin was exposed to the cool air of the dungeon, and her battle cloth pooled onto the floor. She gasped out sharply, "How did you-" His hands took hold of her hips, and with another touch of magic, her skirt and anything else that had kept her modest was gone. Just like that she was left completely vulnerable to Robin's forward thrust.

"AAAaaugnnnnnn!" Her eyes screwed shut as Robin's rock-hard cock pierced the folds of her pussy in one solid thrust. Her body shook as she adjusted to the sudden, and complete intrusion of his length deep into her core.

Robin remained still for a long moment. He thought that he had felt something, in that movement…something that he was sure he shouldn't have felt. He felt her hips shake between his palms and very slowly put words to the thought, "Tharja…was that…?"

Tharja nodded, her eyes still closed tightly, "Nnngnnn…some spells need blood…of a virgin variety…"

Robin felt his heart go cold. He hadn't thought that it was possible. His fingers shook slightly as he slowly began to draw his hips back, "I'm sorry…I shouldn't have-"

"Don't you dare stop." Her voice came out as a sharp hiss that was more reminiscent of a deadly snake than a young woman, "I'll put so many hexes on you that you'll be a mindless thrall if you stop."

Perhaps there was a magic in her tongue, or maybe it was just the words and the way she had said them, but suddenly Robin was snapped out of his stupor. He took a slow breath to calm himself down and then smiled softly, "Threats, Tharja? Really?"

She tried to roll her hips like she had earlier, but found them locked in Robin's powerful grasp. She bit her bottom lip in frustration before remembering the rest of their earlier game, and let a sly smile spread across her lips, "Would the grandmaster prefer that the helpless maiden beg?"

Robin chuckled softly, "If I remember correctly, you told me that you were the farthest thing from helpless that was possible." He leaned forward, letting his breath tickle the back of her ear, "Would you even know what a helpless maiden, begging for something would sound like?"

A vicious smile graced Tharja's lips for a moment. If he doubted her skills, she'd show him what she was capable of, "Oh Robin, please…" Her eyes were half lidded as the words slipped past her lips in breathy whispers, "Please fuck me." She rolled her shoulders and pulled on the chains ever so slightly, "Please Robin…fuck my virgin pussy with your big…" She tried to roll her hips, "…hard…" with every word she felt his grip slip a little more, "…cock…"

She let a low, demanding groan slip past her lips. He still hadn't started moving yet, and even if he let go of her hips completely there was only so much that she could do. How much more did he want her to beg? "Fuck me Robin…Use me…Pump me full of your seed."

While this begging had started as a fun game, Tharja was quickly losing her patience. The time for such appetizers was before the meal had started, and even now she was still well and truly violated by the penis held between her folds, "Robin…I need it…" There was clear desperation in her voice now, "I need you to fuck me-EEEEEEEE!"

Her begging turned into a sharp cry as he began his thrusts anew, with a fiery passion. While she had felt that the begging game might have drawn on a bit long for her tastes, she was glad now that she had been given the opportunity to adjust to his size. His hands pulled her hips back into every powerful thrust.

She could feel her knees begin to go weak, and for a moment was concerned that she might swing forward. That fear was put to rest as Robin tightened his grip on her hips and sped his already furious thrusts up. He let out a soft grunt with every powerful thrust deep into her core. She could feel her breasts sway from the force, even with the last piece of her battle cloth struggling to hold them steady.

The sorceress let out sharp cries as her lover pounded into her from behind. Others may have found it unbecoming to make so much noise during sex, but she dared them to investigate. She wanted everyone in the camp to know. She was much too far gone to form any words, but sharp cries and dark moans would serve the same purpose.

She could feel her peak approaching. It was more intense than when she was alone with her fantasies. The feeling welling up deep in her core was somehow more insistent, it somehow felt like it was larger. Her fingers gripped tightly to the chains that held her manacles, her knuckles going white from the pressure. Her lungs burned from the desperate and ragged gasps for breath that she was taking. Her eyes screwed shut, so tight that all she should have been able to see was darkness, but instead her vision was filled with explosions of white light.

Tharja came hard, her body shaking as the sensation rolled through every nerve-ending, making her feel like she was on fire. Her mouth was parted in a silent scream as her muscles spasmed around the thick meaty shaft of Robin's erection. She heard Robin grunt as her body tried to milk him for his seed. She felt his fingers grip into her hips with enough force that she was sure she would need some healing magic to remove bruises. Then, just as she thought she was beginning to come down, Robin returned to his fevered thrusting.

He wasn't done? Tharja's eyes went wide at the shock of it. A harsh moan tore itself from deep inside of her, "Robin! NGHNNN! I can't-!" That wasn't true at all, she definitely could,

"I-I Oooohmmn I need…" What did she need? Did she need him to stop? Hardly. Her body tingled with a delicious numbness, her brain only able to process the feeling of Robin's hard cock plundering her depths.

"Fuck! Mmmnnn…" She threw her head back, her eyes losing focus on the world, "Fuck me Robin!" Finally she was being honest with herself.

The hill of her previous orgasm was quickly becoming but a faded memory, like an ant-hill that she would simply step over. With each pounding thrust, Tharja found herself soaring up the mountain of what would be her next orgasm. She could feel that she wasn't the only one approaching that particular summit.

Robin's hands had become shaky against her hips. His thrusts were starting to lose their rhythm. Every movement was another desperate dive towards ultimate release. Grunts and groans escaped him at a pace that increased to match the furious thrusting of his hips as it become ever more desperate.

"Robin! Robin!" She felt his cock twitch between her folds, signalling his imminent finish, Robinnnnnghhhh!"

With a last hard thrust he reached his end. He buried himself in her to the root, his balls pressed against her skin. Her muscles twitched around his twitching cock as he pumped white hot magma deep inside of her. His hips gave another involuntary thrust before he loosed another explosion of his thick, hot seed into her waiting womb. Tharja bit down on her bottom lip hard enough that she thought she may have tasted the coppery taste of blood in her mouth. Another half-thrust and explosion of semen rocked her body.

They stood like that for a long moment before Robin finally drew back. Tharja let out a low and disappointed moan at the sudden feeling of emptiness but was still very much enjoying the feeling of his hot juices roiling around inside of her. The wetness on the inside of her thighs, the sore feelings on various parts of her body, all of this was proof of what she had achieved.

As Robin leaned back against the wall, spent and satisfied, his mind returned back to the hex that Tharja had cast. Somehow even though it had failed, he had been transformed into a 'lustful beast' as she had called it. Somehow even though her plan had failed at every level, she had still ended up getting exactly the result that she had set out to attain. He was going to have to be very cautious around the power of her will in the future.

"After all that…you still got exactly what you were after." Robin chuckled and shook his head.

Tharja let out a low moan as trails of his seed dribbled down the inside of her legs. She rolled her wrists slightly, and an audible clicking noise bounced off of the walls of the cell. Tharja took a stumbling step forward as the manacles around her wrists swung back, open and empty. She slowly drew one of her fingers up the inside of her thigh, gathering one of the creamy white trails on her fingertip. She flashed Robin a sultry smile before drawing her tongue up the length of her soiled finger. The vision was enough to make the grandmaster's deflated tool twitch in an attempt to prepare itself for more use.

"Weren't you listening Robin?" She slowly began to draw her skirt back up her long porcelain legs, making every effort to make a show of it, "I've never been helpless in my entire life." A dark chuckle came from deep in her throat, "And you truly never were able to do anything other than exactly what I wanted you to do."

Robin shook his head slowly as he watched Tharja leave the dungeon that had been holding her, swaying her hips back and forth enticingly with every step. He may have been a master strategist, but in this case it appeared that he had been completely outplayed. He couldn't help but smile at his defeat. Maybe it was true and he had only been able to do what Tharja had wanted, but he was not so proud as to be able to say that he hadn't wanted it too.

His eyes looked down to the crumpled pile of sheer material that the dark mage had left behind. He couldn't suppress the soft laugh that slipped past his lips as he recognized it for the invitation that it was, "I suppose she'll be waiting for me to return this to her."


	6. Chapter 6 - A Hex Called Love

**A Hex Called Love**

Tharja stared at her reflection in the tall mirror. She had wrapped a blanket around herself and was sitting on the edge of Robin's desk, slowly letting her slim legs rock back and forth. She watched as the porcelain-white skin peeked out from the edges of the blanket with every movement that she made, and enjoyed the soft creak of the desk that proved to be louder than she had imagined it would have been.

Robin groaned from his futon as he looked over to his desk at the dark sorceress who had hidden her naked form from him with a blanket, "Don't you ever sleep?"

She smirked as she locked eyes with his reflection in the mirror, "And if I slept, my sweet Robin…" Her eyes flashed with devious intent, "…what would I dream of?"

The strategist let out another low groan, "I don't know. Probably the things that we've done these past few hours?"

Tharja's smile grew more mischievous as she turned her head to look directly back at him. Somehow the movement had caused the blanket to slip. While she held the blanket tight to her chest, it still came loose and tumbled down revealing the pale white skin of her back to him. Her gasp of faux surprise had a hit of truth to it as the cool air caused goosebumps to rise on her skin. He was certain that none of this was an accident.

"Is that what you've been doing Robin?" Her sultry whisper was enough to make his toes curl, "You've been dreaming of the things that we've been doing to each other?"

Robin closed his eyes tightly. He wasn't going to answer that question. If he did it would all be over and he wouldn't get any more rest. He rolled back onto his back to face the top of the tent, trying to force himself back to sleep.

"Pity." When he looked back over to her, he saw that she was once again staring at him through the mirror, "Wasting time dreaming when you could be awake, enjoying the real thing."

Robin groaned, bringing covering his eyes with his forearm. This woman was going to be the death of him, "A few hours of sleep. That's all I'm asking." He felt like it had been weeks since he had gotten any decent sleep, and now that he finally had a choice, a ravenous sorceress wasn't going to keep him from it, "I need a few hours of sleep to recover."

Tharja pouted, kicking her lets a little bit more as she pulled the blanket back up her back, "You wouldn't need sleep to recover if I was allowed to go back to my tent."

It had been a condition of her release. Until everything was all of the way sorted out, Tharja's tent was off limits to everyone, and that included Tharja. Things probably would have played out differently had Tharja not attempted to return to her tent while Henry was on watch, but there was a certain understanding between those two, so things hadn't come to blows. After discussing it with the others, they had decided that at some point, someone was going to have to disarm the spell in Tharja's tent, but until that happened, Tharja was in Robin's care, and definitely was not allowed to return to her tent.

In all honesty, she was still supposed to be wearing the shackles so everyone knew she was a prisoner. Honestly, with her magic, everyone knew that would have just been for show. On the way back to his tent she had mentioned that they made her feel like a 'helpless maiden'. Robin had decided that for the sake of his sleep, she wouldn't be wearing them while she was in his tent. The choice hadn't meant that she let him go to sleep any earlier.

He was spent, and the promise that she could restore his energy level sounded nice. If any part of his mind had thought that she would stop her hexes there, he might have been willing to try sneaking her into her tent. He knew better. He'd have someone retrieve her cape tomorrow, but Tharja wasn't going anywhere near that 'lustful beast' spell that she had prepared. That was definitely too dangerous.

"You're going to have to learn patience." He sighed and tried to roll over so that he could get back to sleep.

Her pout continued as he drew her leg up, pointing her toes at his reflection, "I only started getting the things that I wanted when I stopped being patient."

"Five hours." Robin opened his eyes and stared at the side of his tent, "Give me five hours, and then as long as no hexes are involved, you can do whatever you want to me."

Tharja looked back at him over her shoulder, "Hmmm…" She smiled seeing the opening salvo in negotiations.

"If I can't use magic I think the most I could wait would be…" She tapped her finger against her bottom lip, letting the front of her blanket fall open, "…an hour." It was a bluff. As long as she couldn't get to her tent she wasn't using hexes anyway, but he didn't need to know that.

Robin groaned "Five hours, Tharja. You can wake me up however yo want…just let me sleep for five hours."

The sorceress smirked. She could think of a lot of very interesting ways to wake him up. She let go of the blanket and rolled so that her breasts were pressed to the smooth surface of his desk and she looked like a cat ready to pounce on him, "I could give you three if you have the energy to give me a preview of what I'm waiting for right now." She wiggled an eyebrow as she stared at him.

He rolled over and looked at her with tired eyes. She made quite the striking image, and he had to admit a part of him wanted to forgo sleep and do exactly what she wanted. He couldn't give in though, "If you can promise me six I'll let you sleep under the covers with me."

Her body deflated and she let her chin rest on the edge of the desk, "That's the wrong direction. You'll need to give me much more if you want to sleep for six hours."

He closed his eyes and took a long breath. When his eyes opened again the overwhelming sense of tiredness that had been there before was gone, replaced by a resolute calm, "This is time I could be sleeping, so maybe I should be asking for me." He watched her carefully, "Seven hours and your tent is off limits for a week instead of a day."

She scowled, "That's not fair-"

He yawned softly, "Eight hours-"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she let out a low growl, waiting for whatever condition he would add to eight. She knew that no matter what it was she wasn't going to let him sleep that long. She'd wake him up early just to prove a point, just to tell him that no matter what he thought, she was the one who was really in control. She rocked her hips back and forth, ever-ready to pounce forward and claim what was hers. While she was still growling like a wild cat, she was smiling as she waited to see what kind of punishment he would arrive at.

When his eyes met hers, however, it was clear that the game was over. It was the most serious expression she had ever seen in his eyes and it gave her actions pause. Was he serious about her not waking him up? Maybe she had gone a little too far.

"Eight hours…" He repeated, "…and you agree to marry me."

Her heart froze in her chest. She slowly slipped her knees under her she went from crouching like a tiger to sitting on her ankles, clutching her wrist to her chest, "Don't…don't say that. That's not…" She felt hot tears forming in the corner of her eyes, "That's not funny."

Robin stared at her for a long moment as she shivered slightly, "It wasn't really meant to be."

Tharja shook her head as the tears trailed down her cheeks, "That's not…" She bit her bottom lip, still shaking her head, "You're not allowed to…" She blinked back tears as she continued to watch him.

"I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to marry whoever I want." He continued to watch her closely, her shoulders shook and her bottom lip quivered. This wasn't quite the reaction that he had been expecting, but the wasn't any backing down on it now, "I mean, whoever I chose would have to say yes, and give me eight hours of sleep first…"

She pushed forward, sliding her legs over the edge of the desk before slipping off of it and onto the floor. Her steps were shaky and she was still holding her one hand to her face, while the other was clutching her arm to her chest. Her teary eyes stared directly into hers as she lowered herself to be sitting on her knees next to where he was sleeping. She was idly biting one of her nails, but she seemed to have used her tremendous force of will to calm her nerves.

"You-" Her voice was shaky and she stopped, closed her eyes, and took a long and shaky breath to calm her nerves. When she opened her eyes again they were filled with a fiery determination, "In eight hours I am going to show you things you could never even dream of." Her lips curled up in a mischievous smile, "I'm only willing to be your wife if you survive."

He closed his eyes and lifted the blanket so that she could join him in bed, "Then I guess I'll need my rest."

She smiled as she moved under the covers and curled up to press her head into his chest, "You'd better not disappoint me."

* * *

Author's Note: I suspect someone is going to be disappointed that the hex never went off. I had an idea for a bonus chapter that resolved that, but I was worried that it might ruin my beautiful saccharin ending that I love so very much. I might come back and write it at some point.


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